National archives :U.S. Army Chief of Transportation "Historical Program Files"
World War II historians should also take note of the records of the U.S. Army's Office of the
Chief of Transportation (OCT), "Historical Program Files, 1940 50," which contain
documentation of the role of the U.S. Army in the rail transportation system in the United States
and information concerning foreign railroads during World War II. These files include records
relating to army operation of all or parts of the U.S. railroad system in 1943, 1946, and 1950. A
long report entitled Plan for the Possession, Control, and Operation of the Railroads by the
Army, dated December 27, 1943, describes the army plan, mandated by executive order,
to seize control of the nation's railroads in response to the threat of rail union strikes set to
commence on December 30, 1943. The purpose of the plan was to ensure uninterrupted rail
service in moving troops, war material, and equipment for the war effort. Army control of the
railroads, assumed on December 27, 1943, was terminated on January 18, 1944, as the threat of
strikes ceased.(21)
Other records in this file include historical reports of the Military Railway Service and the
Transportation Corps, Rail Division; army technical manuals, plans, and regulations on hospital
railway cars, railway kitchen cars, other troop cars, locomotive repair shops, and locomotive
inspections; army field manuals concerning the Military Railway Service and the Railway
Operating Battalions; copies of The Yankee Boomer, a newsletter of the Military
Railway Service; reports concerning wartime traffic control and the relationships between OCT
and the Interstate Commerce Commission and the Office of Defense Transportation; records of
the American Association of Railroads including the scripts of The Line Behind the Lines --
The Story of Railroads in War, a series of ten weekly radio programs; correspondence
concerning civilian labor recruiting due to manpower shortages; and a report entitled
American Rails in Eight Countries: The Story of 1st Military Railway Service,
which tells the story of supply and service in Europe during the war.
The Southern Railway System wrote a report called Well Done, which
describes the efforts of Southern to teach the fine art of railroading to American soldiers who
would be operating military railroads overseas. Southern trained the 727th Railway Operating
Battalion and other units a total of six thousand officers and men. Also included in these records
are the annual reports of the Pullman Company for the years 1942-1945 and the Railroad
Retirement Board, 1942-1945.(22)
The U.S. Army Military Railway Service prepared reports on foreign railroads in Europe and
Africa, including Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Libya, France, Belgium, the
Netherlands, Spain, and Portugal. These reports include photographs, maps, charts, and general
information concerning the status of foreign railroads in 1942-1943.(23)

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